Issey Miyake meets James Dyson...Spring/Summer 2008.

Fashion designer Issey Miyake and industrial designer James Dyson have collaborated on the runway presentation of The Wind, Miyake’s collection for Spring/Summer 2008.

The collection features clothes designed to interact with the wind and Dyson has stage managed the presentation of the collection at Paris fashion week, installing a giant wind machine on the runway.

Research by the ISSEY MIYAKE team into wind in all its forms was the inspiration for this new collection. To observe the wind is to be aware of nature, to think about the flow of air that envelopes us and the environment in which we exist. As an extension of this idea, a range of garments has been created that engage in playful interaction with the wind, such as windcheaters and ventilated coats that allow wind to course around the body. Like a yacht propelled forward as it rides on the wind that is generated by its own motion, this season’s ISSEY MIYAKE creations are infused with a dynamic optimism.

A narrative inspired by the magnificence of wind led us to a collaboration with James Dyson; the design engineer who harnessed the power of air and invented cyclone technology for vacuum cleaners. Dyson gave the world a vacuum cleaner that overturned the prevailing wisdom, taking 15 years to perfect. The truly innovative quality of the product and its design engineering excellence have particular resonance for ISSEY MIYAKE.

We are honored to have James Dyson manage the stage set for the Paris Collection show, where he will generate wind on the runway. As well as creating garments inspired by a variety of wind forms, the ISSEY MIYAKE team dismantled the vacuum cleaner developed by Dysonand analyzed its construction in the search for fresh perspectives on shaping new garments that expand the realm of possibilities for wind and clothing to co-exist.

James Dyson believes that design and engineering are intrinsically linked; the form of a product develops in tandem with its function. This way of thinking is shared by ISSEY MIYAKE, who attaches the utmost importance to technology in the manufacturing process.

For ISSEY MIYAKE, technological innovation and design are intimately connected. He firmly believes that true symmetry can be found in the marriage of form and function without losing its intrinsic beauty and while there is a tendency for it to be overlooked, it is here that thesource of genuine beauty lies....